What year is this?

I moved to Germany last week and today made a trip to the Ramstein Base Exchange... inside was a bookstore called the "Bookmark". I strolled over the Dungeons & Dragons section and was very surprised to find several rows of 3rd edition Forgotten Realms books, all in new condition, sitting on a shelf with only a few 4th edition products next to it (in fact, there were no 4th edition hardcovers to be found with the exception of a single copy of the Draconomicon book).

There were several Pathfinder books to choose from and a section with some of the new Gamma World material but that was it. At first, I thought I had traveled back in time since the 3rd edition realms books haven't been in print for five years or so.  I immediately grabbed a copy of Champions of Valor and rushed to the register to pay for it... it will almost certainly be the last D&D hardcover book that I purchase... ever.  I find that particularly fitting since it was here at Ramstein that I rediscovered Dungeons & Dragons back in 1998 and 1999 through online stores.

I'm still not sure how the store came to carry these books.  Perhaps they were shipped here from nearby military warehouses (recently discovered) because it's one of the biggest base exchange stores in Europe.  I don't know... but I'm glad I stumbled onto them nonetheless.